Seasons of Love
by Ari and Mo
Summary: A year in the life of the Konha ninja, filled with love and loss and friends and foes. First chapter: January.


Disclaimer: Psh. Me? Own Naruto?

Warning: Spoilers ensue.

**Seasons of Love**

_January_

_-_

_January 1st_

She had at first been angry to be sent on a mission on New Year's, but as she shivers and pulls closer to Shikamaru and Choji, she knows there is no one else she'd rather spend her New Year's with.

_January 2nd_

The first snow fall begins in Konha as Hinata and Naruto race from the Hokage's office- where they had been getting their assignments. Naruto offers a shivering Hinata his coat, and even he knows that the red in her face is not just from the cold.

_January 3rd_

Sitting quietly in the barbeque restaurant and sipping a cup of hot chocolate, as he watches Sakura, Naruto, Sai, and Yamato-disguise it as they may- play in the newly fallen snow, Kakashi is sure that times like these are the times worth living for.

_January 4th_

It does not snow in their desert town, but as Temari watches Kankuro fall in the sand and make a 'sand angel', pulling Gaara along with him, she laughs and runs to meet the two most important men in her life.

_January 5th_

The Inuzuka home is alive with joy in the winter, as dog and master alike frolic and play in the white. Kiba and Akamaru never feel quite as connected as they do when they jump through the field of snow beside their family- four-legged or two-legged.

_January 6th_

The Aburame do not venture outside in the winter months too often, for the bugs do not appreciate the cold. But as Shino gazes outside to see Kiba and Hana creating a snow-dog, he cannot help but wonder what the snow feels like.

_January 7th_

Team Gai throws their sensei a belated birthday bash when he returns from a mission. Streamers and confetti decorate the barbeque, but nothing in the room is as beautiful as the look on Gai's face when he realizes what Lee, Neji, and Tenten have done for him.

_January 8th_

The Hyuuga family does not leave the complex today, as they celebrate the birthday of the head of the family. Hinata and Hanabi smile and give gifts to their father. One Hyuuga is not present at the festivities, but no one asks where Neji has gone off to.

_January 9th_

When Team Ten returns to Konha after their successful mission, they are overjoyed to find snow. Ino hunts down Sakura and the pair go ice-skating. Choji joins the jounin inside, drinking hot chocolate and talking about people and events long gone. And Shikamaru is perfectly content to sit and count snowflakes.

_January 10th_

Hinata, Kiba, and Kurenai visit Shino in his exile from the snow in the Aburame compound, bring silly little gifts of packets of hot chocolate, a pair of snow goggles, and mittens. However, most importantly, they force him into a giant snowsuit, shove gloves on his hands, and otherwise cover every part of his body, and drag him outside. Mostly watching as his teammates and sensei play and laugh, Shino decides he likes snow.

_January 11th_

Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Kurenai visit Asuma's grave. The tears freeze on their face as they leave a pack of cigarettes at the foot of the site. Asuma always loved the snow.

_January 12th_

Tsunade looks out the window of her office with a smile on her face as the second snowfall of the year begins, light and fluffy. Sakura and Shizune burst into the room, laughing and looking out the window, and Tsunade knows that today is going to be a very good day.

_January 13th_

A tired and very annoyed Tenten is awakened by a cheerful and energetic Lee yelling nonsense about snow and sledding in her ear. Sighing, she wakes, forces him out of her room, dresses and, with an evil grin, agrees to help wake Neji.

_January 14th_

Sai, Sakura and Naruto hide behind a snow-covered bush- Sai very confused, Naruto grinning and holding a hand over the mouth of an annoyed Sakura. When Kakashi and Yamato, chatting idly, step from the building, Naruto and Sai ambush them with snowballs, and Sakura cannot help but join in the fun.

_January 15th_

Iruka hates keeping the kids inside with snow on the ground. They are restless and they do not pay attention. So when he announces that they will be having classes outside, the students are not the only ones who are relieved.

_January 16th_

Neji and Hinata forcefully drag the irritated Hanabi from her self-induced exile in the Hyuuga home to take her sledding with them and their teams-sans Shino, who continues to remain inside. When they get there, Lee and Gai are the first people to make Hanabi laugh in a very long time.

_January 17th_

Hanabi becomes a permanent fixture during their sledding escapades, and her overjoyed sister has never been happier as when she sees her baby sister screeching with joy and clinging to the back of her cousin's sensei.

_January 18th_

Ino and Sakura make sure to drag along their teammates to take a nature walk through the beautiful, snow-covered forest. The boys find their joy in throwing snowballs at each other, and Sakura and Ino cannot help but laugh and run down the path to keep up with their excited teammates.

_January 19th_

The Hidden Village of the Sand is alive with celebration for their Kazekage's birthday, but he does not make an appearance this day. The Sand's leader has a quiet, private dinner with his sister and brother and retires to bed, for this makes his day worth it.

_January 20th_

Sitting in a dark bar in some distant corner of Konha, Kakashi smiles and toasts with Iruka and Anko to everything and nothing. To snow! To teammates! To winter! To family! To friends! To living!

_January 21st_

Gaara knows his sister yearns to visit Konha; he sees it in her eyes. So, to tide the older girl over, he makes up some silly message about New Year's and sends her off. The look on her face when he tells her makes it worth it.

_January 22nd_

An excited Kiba brings a slightly less joyful Hana to one of their sledding sessions to find an overflow of sleds and friends as a grinning Naruto greets him and his sister and in the background, Hinata smiles at her teammate quietly as the screams of Ino and Sakura and Shikamaru and Tenten echo from the bottom of the hill.

_January 23rd _

Shino does not need a party; he does not need to celebrate; he does not need gifts, for the bright faces of Hinata, Kiba and Kurenai as they do so anyway are all he needs on his birthday.

_January 24th_

It takes two days for Temari to reach Konha. When she stepped into the snow-covered city, a smile broke on her face and a light danced in her eyes and she couldn't help but laugh.

_January 25th_

Shikamaru runs into Temari and with a rare excitement in his step, he drags the Sand ninja off to sled with them. And as the pair steps out of the forest and to the top of the hill, Temari cannot help the smile growing on her face and Shikamaru cannot help the warmth that explodes in his chest at her grin.

_January 26th_

Naruto shows up in the Hokage's office early in the morning to find Tsunade having a bout of insomnia. Laughing, he sits with the woman and chats with her until she drifts into sleep. Smiling, he stays for a while and just watches as she sleeps, before standing to leave, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead with a whisper of, "Sleep, Tsunade-baa-chan."

_January 27th_

Sakura, Sai, Naruto, Yamato and Kakashi make it their business to drag Iruka outside from his small, warm apartment and into the cold, slow-filled outdoors. The man is irritated and cold, but he cannot help but smile as Sai struggles at ice-skating, grasping Sakura and Naruto's hands with a look of such innocence on his face it reminds him of the face of a new student on his first day of school, and laughs.

_January 28th_

Temari leaves her message with Shizune to give to the busy Tsunade, and slips out of Konha in the early morning hours. She loves seeing her Leaf Village friends, but Gaara needs her and Kankuro needs her and the Sand is calling.

_January 29th_

When Shizune enters the Hokage's office, she is unsurprised to find the woman sleeping, her head lying on the desk with a serene expression on her face. She is surprised, however, to find Jiraya with her hand in his, his head lying atop hers. Shizune cannot bring herself to disturb the scene, and slips out of the office. Her message can wait.

_January 30th_

Lee catches Sakura alone on one of the nature walks she and Ino have taken up and, with a smile, escorts her home. He thinks that perhaps Sakura has never looked as beautiful as when she stands in an empty, snow-filled clearing with the sun forming a halo around her head.

_January 31st_

Temari arrives home to a smiling Kankuro and an annoyed Gaara, and the pair automatically begins to describe every detail of what happened while she was away, and she cannot help but laugh. It is good to be home.

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A/N: Please read and review constructively. February will be out soon.


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